To measure wind at a significant altitude is difficult. Yet many different types of groups want to do it for numerous reasons. Air racing, ballooning, rocketry, aerial spraying, and the current focus, windmills all need to know of the presence of wind gusts high in the air. The standard method is to erect a tower and place cup anemometers at the appropriate heights. If information is wanted at more than one location, then a tower has to be erected and maintained at each location. These towers are expensive and expensive to maintain. Because of the expense, and because they interfere with the immediate wind regime only a limited number if them are used in a wind farm and are generally not used to collect data to dispatch the turbines.
In the application of windmills, for example, the current practice is to have each turbine control itself based on the power it is generating, and the wind it is measuring on the nacelle of the same turbine. The problem is that these nacelle-mounted instruments are behind the rotor blades. The turbines can adjust to different winds if they knew what the incoming winds were a few seconds before the arrived at the rotors. Providing this information economically is a primary focus of the invention. The invention is designed as an easily maintained low cost way to provide wind speed change information a few seconds before the wind hits the turbines without the use of towers. This will allow them to adjust the blades (or transmissions) in gusts to reduce stress and subsequent O&M while making the turbines operate more efficiently.
Likewise, with ballooning, when filling and releasing balloons it would be best if the air above were quiet. A method is needed to see aerial winds a number of seconds before releasing. Hang gliding launches are much easier on an up-wind gust if it can be foreseen. This new method addresses this need giving a 2-10 second estimate of wind gusts intensity, and direction. The same problems exist with model rocketry, small plane racing, and similar aerial sports. For these markets this new invention likewise will give a recording of wind gusts that will or might have interfered with activities.
In summary, there is a need to have a method of estimating wind gusts a small number of seconds into the future. This invention addresses that need with an economical ground based system.